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Show 224 DISSERT. , I. L'- """v--J H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. be deduce. d agam. ft us (/) · Laftly ' other beafts did not pafs to thh e new orld erhaps becaufe men detained them. But however t c m~ t- ~r m~y ~e, the pafiilge of fome beall:s and not of others proves nothmg againft our fy:ll:em. f 1 · 1 With refpect to the calculation above mentioned, o . w ~at tl~~ t lC floth would require to move from America to Brazil, lt nufes no m• convcm· ence; 1r 0r 1'f 1't had occa' fion for more than a thou• fand years, on the fuppofition we made of the' union of the two contments continuing all that time it might arrive there at laO:. The count de Buffon declares, that authors have exaggerat~d rhc flownefs of the floth . and Mr. Au benton acknowledges, that 1t was not fo flow as the turtle: Befides, it being a harmlefs animal, it may have been tranfported by men. (1) Muller faid that thofe bonet belonged to certain large quadmpedt, which be 1 co li~ .U oull Tbe c~unt de Bulfon, trufling too much to him, Cf?mputcd that thofc qu:Ll rupe s ' w;;~111feve~ time• larger than ole ph ants. Some have believed that thofc bones belon~ed t~ the {ca-horfea, C-ome to other fea-animnla; and, la(Uy, fome have thought they bel~ngc b t~ om~ unknown quadrupeds thnt ~re now e~ti.ntl: but they may, from what appeara, ave c ouge 10 gi&nta of t~h\\lllan aa well aa of any other rn.:e. DISSER ... ' [ 215 ) D I S S E R T A T I 0 N IT. On the Principal Epochs if the Hfftory of Mexico. T HE different opinions of authors conce~ning the chronolo~ of the hiftory of Mexico, oblige us to examine with attention the epochs of the principal events. If we had done this in the body of our hifi:ory, it would have interrupted the narration with unfeafon .. able difp.utes. The variety of fentir;nents among writers on thi& head, arifes from their not having adjufted the Mexican years with ours. We have laboured with great diligence to invefi:igate the truth, and we think we have in great 1Mt fucceeded, as we lhall endeavout· tO' 1hew i~ the prefent ditfertation, which wilJ, however, prove little in. terefting to thofc who have no tafte for, or curiotity ~n points of chro• nology. · S E C T. I. <Jn the Epoch if the .Atrival of the ';l'o/tecaJ', an'd ot!J(r Nations in tl!t Country of Anahuac • . WE do not treat now of the firft peoplers, but only of thofe nations who make a confpicuous figure in our hill:ory. Authors in the .firll; place difagroe about the order of the arrival of fuch nations; as the Chechemecas for example, who, according to Aco.fta, Gomara, and Siguenza, were the firft to arrive in that country, an£1, according to Torquemada, the third were the fourth, if we believe Boturini. Nor are they lefs difcordant about the arrival of every other nation. None of them doubt that the Toltecan nation was v~ry ancient. It app~ats from the hiftories of the Chechemecas, that they did not arrive in Anahuac until after the ruin of the Toltecas, whofe building they met with in their travels~ and remains , of whom they found on the banks of the Mexican lakes, and other places. In this point To .. r!J.ue~ada, Betancourt, and Boturini are agreed. Acofta and Gomara make no mention of the Teltecas, becaufe perhaps thofe authors 1 Whorn . VoL. ·li. G g they |